J.oao Almeida He returned to the competition with more doubts than certainties. The Portuguese, one of the names called to animate the grand tours, left a worrying image in the first stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes 2026the race that this week functions as a laboratory before the Tour. At 53 kilometers from the finish line, still with several climbs ahead, the leader of the UAE Team Emirates-XRG He lost contact with the main group and was cut off along with several sprinters and Wout van Aert. It was not a definitive crisis, but it was a sign that was difficult to hide.
Almeida had already warned in advance that he was arriving without specific objectives and with the need to check where he really was after difficult months. “They have been ups and downs,” admitted the Portuguese, who explained that he had to stop when the sensations did not accompany him. His speech was cautious, almost reconstructive: he had returned to training regularly for three or four weeks and hoped to recover his normal level in one or two months.
The road, however, was harsher than words. As soon as the stage began to harden, Almeida showed clear signs of suffering. He gave in before his time. The focus, in any case, seems far from France. Almeida recognized that his great idea involves LaVuelta, there he hopes to be well. “It’s what I have in mind,” he said about the Spanish round. He Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Tour It remains, for now, an uncomfortable test bed.
A cold, dull return with an obvious message: Almeida still needs time. The week will tell if it was just a bad day or the symptom of a still green set-up.
